Best Non-Bikram Sweaty Power Yoga (2012)

It's only when you have a bad yoga instructor — like the occasional one at 24 Hour who, 15 minutes into class, is still chatting about achieving Ohm status — that the good can truly be appreciated. Yoga at the Village's Natasha Snow Needles, who teaches the Power Form and Flow class on Sunday evenings, is in the truly good category. Due to its locale on a pedestrian street in Glendale, the class is rarely crowded and the studio is intimate and friendly. Needles, who was certified in Hatha yoga by Yoga at the Village owner Elyse Briggs, prefers to give constant instruction and demonstrates poses only occasionally — the idea being to monitor everyone's form and make sure they are all challenged (the class is all levels). Instead of typical New Age music, she prefers Arcade Fire and The White Stripes. The result is an added burst of energy and sweat, which lasts until the final down-dog. 1306 Sonora Ave., Glendale. (818) 265-9833, yogaatthevillage.com.